New features in the Go-Live release of Windows Communication Foundation include a service configuration editor, for tweaking settings, and a service trace viewer, for viewing messages being sent between multiple services. The Go-Live release of Windows Workflow Foundation features new policy activities to evaluate complex rule sets and a new file format based on XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language). Microsoft's usage of XAML as a way to specify business processes is unique, Schmelzer said.

Microsoft is not releasing a Go-Live license for Windows Presentation Foundation because this software does not require the type of scalability testing necessary for the other two technologies, according to Microsoft. The early version of Windows Presentation Foundation being offered on Wednesday has support for frame-based animations as well as support for applications accessed through a browser.

In other developer-related news at Microsoft, the company's Visual Studio for Devices and .Net CF (Compact Framework) teams are eyeing improvements in mobile application development, according to Microsoft executive S. "Soma" Somasegar's blog. Somasegar is corporate vice president of the company's Developer Division. Mobile improvements are anticipated in the planned Orcas release of the Visual Studio tools platform.

"The Visual Studio for Devices team will continue to invest not only in rapid application development, but also in addressing end-to-end life cycle management. The device emulator is another area where will continue to invest and enhance," Somasegar wrote. "Also, the team is also working on delivering an integrated development experience with SQL Mobile, Windows Mobile, and Windows CE SDKs," he said.

"The .Net CF team is already planning and doing some incubation work on taking some of our new API Frameworks down to device size," Somasegar wrote. "Another thing that is high on the list of things to get done is the addition of improved 3-D graphics, sound, and cooperative gameplay APIs, all geared towards the best gaming experience on devices" he added.